


Lines

by tinyangl



Category: Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-03-24
Updated: 2008-03-24
Packaged: 2018-07-14 12:44:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7172030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyangl/pseuds/tinyangl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shige spends time with Yamapi, Ryo and Jin, and discovers a little more about them and a lot more about himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lines

**Author's Note:**

  * For [valour](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=valour).



> The line that has an * is a line from 's translation of May Myojo over [here](http://boys-menkui.livejournal.com/1290.html). Also, the first big section, I must point out, is not a translation. Is not real period. You'll understand more once you read. *laughs* Hope you enjoy. Dedicated to 4_03_am because she asked me for Shige's POV on RyoPin friendship. (Originally posted [here](http://korette-destiny.livejournal.com/27142.html).)

**Essay: Myojo Month-Year "Work"**

>   
>  "How about going to eat something with a strong taste when you finish it?*"  
> Such a thing, even I'm surprised I had enough courage to ask this of Yamashita-kun. For me, I have kept the lines between work and private life established for a very long time. There are few exceptions; that guy following me from two different groups being one. But Yamashita-kun has long been a senpai that I have admired. There have been walls between us and I never had the courage to accept any offers or make any offers to spend time outside of work together. These lines have started to blur, and work and private life are slowly merging together as I spend more time with people that, maybe two years ago, I would never have spent time with.
> 
> What I find the best about my work is that there are friendships that can be formed with the numerous people we work with. NewS, to me, is filled with people that are friends only at work. Again, that guy would say he's an exception. As would the guy who has no respect for his elders. For a long time, we have co-existed in this arrangement without making any moves towards modifying. There's nothing wrong with this, it's just who we are. We don't like the other people any less, but sometimes, we see enough of each other at work that we don't feel the urge or need to meet outside of it. The same works for any of the other group members in the Jimusho. 
> 
> As time went by, I began to learn more about these people that I work with. Their likes, their dislikes, their habits, their vices. It's something that comes naturally after being around these groups of people for as long as one is. Yamashita-kun is someone whom I'm experiencing this with. The contact we've held throughout the years, it is not a surprise that I have gradually gotten to know him just by observing him. For example, did you know that he is the type of person who thinks a lot about his future?
> 
> Our contact had been long limited to just work friends. Yamashita-kun has his own circle of friends with Akanishi-kun and Nishikido-kun, both people who were also just work friends for me. One a little more than the other, logically. In some ways, I was envious of their long formed friendship. Knowing each other for so long, they had been able to move past the "work rivalries" that a lot of us were ingrained with. For them, their friendship had long broken the rules that came with being co-workers. They could spend time with each other at each other's houses or at restaurants. Playing games or just sitting in silence, eating. The lines that separate work and private life did not exist for them.
> 
> Yamashita-kun taking me out on my 20th birthday was our first step to erasing that line between work and private life. I, in turn, asking him out after his photo shoot was just another erasure of that line. There is nothing wrong with spending more time with your co-workers. There is also nothing wrong with wanting to keep co-workers and close friends separate from one another. It's all a matter of what you are searching for in a friend. So Yamashita-kun, I only have one thing to ask of you, _yoroshiku onegaishimasu_. Or should that just be _yoroshiku_?

It's a weird experience, spending more and more time with Yamapi. It had started slowly, just some time here and there. But Shige had never, ever expected for Yamapi to invite him out to one of his _sacred_ dinners with Ryo and Jin.

"Are you sure I'm not intruding?" Shige asked, a little worried - fumbling with his hands as he spoke.

Yamapi smiled that easy smile that he often did - a combination of reassuring and friendly. "Yeah. I already cleared it with the other two, so if you'd like..." Yamapi's words trailed, but even Shige could read the hopeful look on his face.

"I'd be more than happy to!" Shige answered with ease, although his heart pounded at the thought of spending more time with people he hadn't ever before - not in this capacity anyway.

If possible, Yamapi's smile only got wider. "I'm glad! See you tonight then!" He swiftly turned around, heading out the door and mumbling the plans of the night to himself. 

Shige watched, anxious and worried all at the same time. It wasn't as though he felt _awkward_ spending time with Yamapi. He just hadn't gotten fully comfortable yet. But Shige thought he could handle a dinner with all three of them - he worked with two all the time after all. Then the thought that Ryo was going to be at the dinner struck Shige and he groaned. He _prayed_ there'd be no "Let's Cram Food into Shige's Mouth" game played that night.

~

The three decided to keep it as basic as they usually do it, and so their dinner was just Chinese Take-out in Jin's apartment.

"Here, Shige." Ryo quickly followed up the words by shoving an entire steamed dumpling into Shige's mouth. Once he could get past how _hot_ (not spicy) it was, Shige slowly worked on actually chewing and swallowing. "Five. Four," Ryo started.

Shige muffled a noise of complaint, but still hurried to swallow before Ryo could finish counting down. "Three. Two. One." Shige stuck his tongue out at Ryo who looked at him approvingly. To the side, Yamapi and Jin howled in laughter, not even bothering to hide it when Shige angled a glare in their direction. The theatrics didn't continue after that, although every now and then, Yamapi would pass something along to Shige that he knew Shige'd much prefer. 

All in all, despite a few smattering of conversations regarding things at work or random anecdotes throughout their day, the table was surprisingly quiet. While Shige would _normally_ feel a little lost and confused as to how to keep situations from being quiet, there was a kind of relaxing feel to how they spent their time. It also gave Shige more of a chance to observe how the three interacted with each other. Words were lost on them - it always came down to action. Ryo'd pass Yamapi a tissue when he would need it the most, before he'd realize it. Jin would pass Ryo some hot sauce, and although he'd make a joke that this was probably Ryo's life sauce (hot sauce = fiery, Jin'd thought it was brilliant), Ryo would still take it with a grudging "Thanks." Yamapi'd hand Jin a glass of water before he'd start choking because he was eating too fast.

It was all _fascinating_ to Shige, who thought that there was something magical about their friendship. It was a bit of a dorky thought, he had to admit, but it was the best way for him to explain it to himself.

~

They followed up the dinner with a Dragonball Wii tournament. Since there was an _even_ number of people, Jin and Yamapi quickly declared that they should have teams.

"Why should I have Kato on _my_ team?" Ryo snapped, arms crossed. "He probably doesn't even know how to play."

Shige snorted loudly, causing everyone to turn their heads in his direction. When Ryo gave him a "What?" kind of face, Shige answered the unspoken question. "I, at least, use the Wiimote properly to play this game. As opposed to you guys." 

Instantly, Ryo and Jin angled their glares in Yamapi's direction. "Have you been blabbing how we play the game?" Jin frowned. 

"What's _wrong_ with how we play?" Ryo flicked Yamapi on the forehead as Jin lightly pushed him from the side.

Yamapi pushed both of them roughly away from him. "I didn't say a thing! Maybe he knows because you both are _holding_ them like controllers." Both Jin and Ryo looked down at their hands, and both were holding the Wiimotes as controllers. They dropped the controllers, like they were holding something scalding. Shige snickered to himself while Yamapi rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I'll take Kato then," Ryo said, half-grudgingly, but Yamapi and Jin could hear the increased enthusiasm. (For that matter, so could Shige who rolled his eyes at how he was being claimed like _cattle_.)

"No way, forget that," Yamapi argued. "I invited him so he's my partner."

"It's my apartment! I take precedent over everyone else," Jin declared loudly, moving around to snake an arm around Shige's shoulders and pushing Ryo towards Yamapi.

Ryo glared at Jin, but he took his spot without debate. "He only plays the apartment card when he knows he's about to lose," Ryo grumbled.

Yamapi laughed. "It's the only chance he has at never losing something," Yamapi snerked. Jin stuck his tongue out as Shige shook his head, amused. They obviously hadn't grown up from their childhood days.

~

The night had gone by so quickly that neither of them had realized they'd been up till 1 in the morning. "Shit," Shige cursed, reaching for his phone just as Koyama was calling to remind him to go to bed. He quickly told Koyama that he would (which the three in the room were rather amused by) and followed that phone call with one to his home, tell them he was going to crash at Jin's. (Annoyingly, Jin would pretend to talk in a high voice, telling Shige to hurry up with his phone call and that this was they were _all_ alone. Shige thought he was going to suffocate Jin with how hard he'd pressed a pillow against his face.) 

"Now you get to see how we spend the _rest_ of our nights," Yamapi said, sounding rather pleased at the turn of events.

Shige, who'd gotten out of the stress of having to reassure his mom that he was not, in fact, at a girl's house, gave Yamapi an exhausted look. "There's _more_ ," he said - more stating than questioning.

Ryo and Jin exchanged identical mischievous looks. "Strip twister!"

Shige stared at them for some long few minutes before pushing off the couch. "I'm going home." 

Laughing, both Ryo and Jin pinned him back onto the couch as Yamapi yelled over their voices. "They're only kidding!"

Jin pouted in Yamapi's general vicinity - Shige was fidgeting too much for him to be able to keep straight. "Don't tell him that _now_."

"Yeah, way to spoil the fun, Pink-kun," Ryo growled, moving away once Shige stopped fighting them.

Before getting up, Yamapi chucked a pillow at Ryo who took the hit willingly. Shige sighed in relief as Jin and Ryo settled in at his sides, Yamapi grabbing one of Jin's many DVDs and plopping it into the DVD drive. "We watch English movies and make fun of them," Yamapi explained over his shoulder, before moving to join the four on the couch - even though it was a _really_ tight squeeze. 

"Make fun of them?" Shige asked half-curious and half-nervous (even though he wasn't quite sure why).

"Yeah," Ryo said with ease, an arm slipping over Shige's shoulders (as did another from Jin and Yamapi's hand tickled his neck every time he moved it). "Like for example." His voice turned falsetto just as the actress on screen started talking. "Oh my god, my breasts are fake and I think I lost my virginity to a cow!"

Shige took a long pause before bursting into laughter, just as Jin mimicked the man's voice. "My younger brother?! How could you? _Without_ me?!"

Yamapi took up the role as the younger sister of the actress's character. "You should leave her! At least my fake breasts are bigger!"

Ryo snorted loudly. "Is that in character or are you speaking for your own sake?"

Dryly, Yamapi said, "Shige, smack him."

As though it was a reflex, Shige _did_ \- a smack across the head - and then immediately cowered as Ryo took a long pause before barking, "You don't have to do everything he says!"

Jin and Yamapi laughed _hard_ as Shige rushed to apologize. 

 

They ended up crashing half-way through the movie. Shige could barely remember the plot of the movie, but he did remember falling asleep smiling.

~

When Shige's about to write his next Myojo essay, he could see Yamapi and Ryo working to compose a song together out of the corner of his eye. Shige smiled before he set out to work - he knew exactly what he could talk about.

~

It's not as though Shige's _embarrassed_ when Yamapi confronted him with the Myojo essay. It's just that he had hoped Yamapi would never, ever, _ever_ read the essay he had essentially dedicated to Yamapi and their growing friendship. It was a little more opening than he'd expected, when he'd read the final copy over.

Except, to his nice surprise, Yamapi handled it differently than Shige would've expected. He invites Shige out to dinner again - a repeat of last time's, he said. 

"But why?" Shige asked.

Yamapi smiled at him, and Shige was torn between interpreting the look as understanding or approval. "So we can continue erasing the line between work and friendship." Shige thought he could feel himself _dying_ as he watched Yamapi walk out of the room.

Shige supposed it _would_ be another move towards erasing that line. Except having it quoted back to him was a little off-putting.

Then Shige remembered that Ryo was going to be at the dinner again and he _prayed_ there'd be no "Let's Cram Food into Shige's Mouth" game played this time.

 

Omake:

Shige passed Koyama a towel right before he'd actually asked. Koyama handed Shige a water bottle at the same time and they thanked each other before going about their usual business.

"How'd you _know_ that?" Tegoshi asked, looking startled at how in sync they were.

Shige and Koyama exchanged looks before Shige turned to face Tegoshi. "Time," Shige said with a grin. "Just some time."


End file.
